| In
recent decades, the evidence for an oral epic tradition in ancient
Greece has grown enormously along with our ever-increasing awareness
of worldwide oral traditions. John Foley here examines the artistic
implications that oral tradition holds for the understanding of the Iliad and Odyssey in order to establish a context for
their original performance and modern-day reception.
In Homer's Traditional Art, Foley addresses three crucially
interlocking areas that lead us to a fuller appreciation of the
Homeric poems. He first explores the reality of Homer as their actual
author, examining historical and comparative evidence to propose
that "Homer" is a legendary and anthropomorphic figure rather than
a real-life author. He next presents the poetic tradition as a specialized
and highly resonant language bristling with idiomatic implication.
Finally, he looks at Homer's overall artistic achievement, showing
that it is best evaluated via a poetics aimed specifically at works
that emerge from oral tradition.
Along the way, Foley offers new perspectives on such topics as
characterization and personal interaction in the epics, the nature
of Penelope's heroism, the implications of feasting and lament,
and the problematic ending of the Odyssey. His comparative
references to South Slavic oral epic open up new vistas on Homer's
language, narrative patterning, and identity.
Homer's Traditional Art represents a disentangling of the
interwoven strands of orality, textuality, and verbal art. It shows
how we can learn to appreciate how Homer's art succeeds not in spite
of the oral tradition in which it was composed but rather through
its unique agency. |
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